The C7Grand library is based on a Yamaha C7 Grand piano. The C7 is the biggest of the C series (227cm / 7'6") and is one of the most used pianos as it is present on many concert stages, studios and prestigious music events.

We wanted to capture its delicate, bright and precise sound that you hear everywhere, so we used every technology and piano simulation tools that we worked on over the years and here it is, the C7 Grand with all of the features you can think of, multiple microphones (3 different stereo perspectives), half pedal, repedal, sympathetic resonances and many other that we will detail below.
It is also very customizable as we know that not everybody has the same digital piano or has the same taste, you can change every aspect of it, the overall sound, the tuning (even complex microtuning are possible) or the MIDI response.

The C7 Grand is using the popular flac lossless compression format (UVI Workstation 2.5.2 is required to use it) to increase the streaming performances and loading time without losing any audio quality. You also save space, the library goes from 14Gb uncompressed to 2.41Gb.

Microphones

The C7Grand has been sampled with 3 pairs of microphones carefully phase aligned. You can load, enable and control the volume of each of them.

The Close microphone perspective is placed inside the piano very close to the strings and gives powerful bass and a very detailed sound and a wide stereo image.

The Player microphone perspective is placed above the head of the piano player. The stereo image is almost like the one you get when you play, the sound is brighter and has more air than the close position.

The Side microphone perspective is placed exactly where a solo singer would be standing. It has even more air than the other two perspectives.

You can of course mix the multiple positions to get the best of each position.

Resonances

The C7 Grand has two very advanced types of resonances simulations.
The first one is the sympathetic resonance that notes are creating with eachother when the sustain pedal is up. Every note will interact with all of the other pressed notes and make them resonate. We modeled the behavior of the strings but based all of that work on samples of the real resonances. You can adjust how much of it you want and also how much polyphony you want to allow for this feature.
The second one is also the sympathetic resonances, but this time when the sustain pedal is down, we call it the true pedal action, it simply allows the resonances to come in even if the pedal is pressed after you press the chord, and even if you release the pedal and press it again while still holding a chord.

The pedals

The C7 Grand features some advanced pedal features.

Repedal : Many classical musicians use repedaling to give some kind of a blend effect. We felt that it should be part of this library. Just like on a real piano, this effect is more present in the bass area.Sostenuto : This is a playing mode that will allow the player to choose which dampers will be held. Any note pressed before pressing the sostenuto pedal will be held until you release the pedal no matter what you play.Half pedal : This is another playing mode that is used to create a blending effect between chords. It is simply setting the sustain pedal right at the spot where the dampers barely touch the strings thus creating a long release sound full of resonance.
You can assign the different pedal to any controller.

Advanced Settings

On this panel you have access to many different settings to shape the sound of the piano itself and how it reacts. This is also where you enable and disable the advanced features like the repedal, half pedal or the sympathetic resonance.
It is also where the reverbs can be tweaked.

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The Release Vol controls the volume of the sound produced when you release a note,

The Pedal Noise controls the volume of the sound produced when you press and depress the sustain pedal,

The Key noise controls the volume of the sound produced by the key itself when you release a note,

The Pedal down resonance controls the volume of the resonance when the sustain pedal is pressed,

The Sympathetic Resonance controls the volume and polyphony allowed for the sympathetic resonance effect on pedal up,

The True Pedal Action enabled the resonance effect even if you press the sustain pedal after the chord,

The Repedal enabled the repedal feature. It allow the sustain pedal to "retrigger" the notes that did not die since the last pedal release event.

The Half Pedal enabled the half pedal effect. This allow the use to trigger different release samples when the pedal is half pressed (you need a continuous sustain pedal for it to work).

The Tone allows you to soften the overall sound of the piano or to make it brighter,

The Reverb gives you a choice of quality IR based reverbs, as well as the amount of Reverb you want including the dry/wet balance.

MIDI response

The C7Grand has been sampled deeply and we used advanced filters to blend the velocities together and make the splits unnoticeable.
There is also a complete set of tools to tweak the velocity and volume response to make sure it fits your digital piano and your playing style.

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The Bend controls the MIDI curve, or the MIDI mapping curve, so basically how quickly you will hit the high velocities, you can also draw your velocity response as you like,

The Vel Range controls both the minimum velocity and the maximum velocity that the library will respond to,

The Polyphony controls the number of voices allowed to the library. For some older system it is a good way to diminish the CPU usage,

The Sustain CC is the controller number used for the sustain pedal. By default it is set at 64, but you can use any other controller,

The Sostenuto CC is the controller number used for the sostenuto pedal. By default it is set at 66, but you can use any other controller,

The Half Pedal Min and Max define the range for the Half Pedal effect. If the sustain pedal outputs a value between these two values, the samples used for the release will be the Half pedal ones,

The Round Robin enables the round robin script that will alternatively take the notes next to it and pitch them to get rid of the machine gun effect.

Dynamics controls the dynamics of the piano. In other works it defines the volume corresponding to the lowest velocity. When set at 100, the volume at the lowest velocity will be 0 and when set at 0, the volume at the lowest velocity will be the same as the volume at the highest velocity.

The Sensitivity controls the volume curve between the lowest velocity and highest velocity,

Tuning

The tuning panel allows you to completely tune the piano. You can tune each note separately or use the Tuning Mode to choose if you want to apply this to every note or to every octave only. This makes it very easy to apply microtuning tables for example.

Sample player

C7 Grand comes with its own sample player, the UVI Workstation 3(requires v3.0.0 or later).
We provide it for free with every library that you buy, you don't need to buy an expensive sampler to use our products. It works on Mac (10.7 or later) and PC (windows 7 or later), in standalone or as a plugin (VST / AU / AAX ) and in 64 bits only. You can find more info about it here.

We use the iLok system to protect our products and you can choose to register your license to your computer or to an iLok dongle.
If you decide to use an iLok dongle, both V1 and V2 are compatible with our products.
You can activate your license on up to 3 computers or iLok dongles at the same time and you can deactivate one and activate another as many times as you want.

Registration

Once your order is complete, you will be provided with a serial number.

You will then be able to register it to your iLok account from our website on this page (you need to be logged in to access this page). The whole process is described in the FAQ (instructions + screencast).

I don't know how you guys approached the sampling and velocity layers (since you don't state how many) but i can tell you that your C7 is the best i played and the closest to the real thing.
I went on a hunt and bought every major piano vst on the market. I own Garritan CFX, Ravenscroft, Ivory II American Grand, Keyscape and several others. After weeks of playing/testing/bouncing/listening, i came to the conclusion that your C7 is the one i will be using for my solo piano album.
I love the variety in character i get from trying different mic perspectives and mixing them together. It clearly shows that you guys did not cut any corners with recording those different perspectives.
My only comment is that the volume and velocity are too harsh right out of the box therefore i find myself always lowering the volume of the mics and ramping the velocity curve . But that's okay i guess hence i can save my setting as presets.

October 09, 2017

By robshrock

I love it... it sounds big and full and clear; but I knock off two full stars for not having soft pedal samples!!! That is so important to the performance of piano as an instrument and it's a huge oversight, IMO.

May 30, 2017

By Alan

purchased this on the AudioDeluxe flash deal and I'm loving it. Very playable, very responsive, tweakable to your hearts content. Another great product from Acoustic Samples! Heartily recommended, although I did only purchase because of the deal, purely because I already own so many piano plug ins.

April 30, 2017

By Richard Garber

The C7 is my "go to" piano. Very easy to setup and in the mix it fits in fantastically. Mostly I do Big Band and combo jazz, lite-rock tunes you can hear at www.livingwatersjazz.com if you want to hear the C7 in my own mixes. I purchased the C7 when it first came out and like all my other Acoustic Sample purchases, they are great! Excellent company for support as well. - Rich

September 17, 2016

By Cinjero

This was a bit of a gamble for me, but after an Epic fail with EastWest Sounds (Quantum Piano Set) I thought I'd give Acousticsamples/sound a shot; better, and more professional website and stand-alone tool is also a plus. After some initial problems charging (out of country) , everything was a snap... the piano played awesome, brilliant, some darkness, but what is expected from a Yamaha. I highly recommended this VST and I will most like being purchasing more from Acousticsamples. :-)

June 10, 2016

By Wilfrid

I'm not a pianist,more of a guitar player,so i'm no specialist in pianos VSTi or even real ones and i never heard a real C7 so i couldn't say if it's the most authentic or the least... i don't care.All i care and can say is this Acousticsamples C7 is beautiful to my hear and inspires me.First time i tried it i lost track of time and when i stopped three hours passed,i even forgot to eat.To me it's a good sign,the best.Worth every cents.
4 stars because perfection doesn't exist and for the best because perfection is boring.;-)

November 27, 2015

By Nor Eddine Bahha

This is the {BEST} sampled YAMAHA C7 piano I've ever seen, I love the dynamics and the nuances. I also use Pearl Concert Grand by ImpactSounds but there's something special into AS C7, easy in use have a heavy warm sound. I an't wait to use it on stage on my next gigs!!!
BRAVO!!! Please I'd like to see a Steinway D with the same UVI interface, mics and tweacks and of course same price.
—Greetings from Morocco

September 01, 2015

By Craig

This superb virtual piano deserves some serious praise. Having played and/or owned too many software & hardware pianos to mention, as well as 37 years playing every acoustic piano brand and type imaginable (including a recent stint working for the Australian Steinway agents), Acousticsamples C7 is in my opinion the finest virtual piano available, alongside the VI Labs Ravenscroft 275. They have somehow managed to not only create a totally realistic tone, but also create an instrument you can CONNECT with and be inspired with as a player, something which lacks in many other virtual pianos. Stellar tone, voicing and consistency across the range - a lot of care has gone into this instrument. Thankyou to all involved in making this available. The quality/price ratio is outstanding.